Bleeding Kansas

I’ve always had a deep curiosity for morbid truths or hidden histories, and if I didn’t know of dark facts it wasn’t uncommon for me to create a dark story for places and people in my own mind. For that reason, when I was offered a chance to attend a historical ghost tour in the town where I live that I jumped on the opportunity. The first time that I attended a Ravenwynd Tour was in late summer of 2015. The tours take small groups of people on a small walk, the longest being maybe a mile and a half all the way around, to learn about the history of the buildings and if there are any known ghost activities reported in that location. Some of the information given goes beyond the path that the tour follows by telling some of the darker history for the local area. One of the area stories that stuck in my brain from the first tour and has since been added too on later tours is the story of the Bloody Benders. I am aware that a few true-crime podcasts and blogs have covered the story but there is more to it than a lot of people are aware so bear with me.

For those without a deep morbid curiosity a little background information about the Benders and the circumstances that allowed them to become infamous may be necessary. In the early 1860’s there were a lot of families working to break out and settle the western frontier. The Homestead Act was a major player in the western movement as it gave land to pioneers if the individuals and families given the land would farm and make the land useful. It was in 1870 there was land in the southeast corner of Kansas given to a group of seven families. The families lived less than ten miles from what would become Cherryvale, KS. One of the new arrivals was the Bender group. I use the word group because it was later established that while they acted as a family unit the only two who were probably actually related were the elder matriarch and the daughter, Kate, who would become the focus of a nationwide manhunt.

In addition to the women there were two men who told everybody they were John Sr and Jr. Historians have concluded that while these four individuals presented themselves as a mother, father and their two kids it is more likely that Kate and Jr were a couple, and the younger male was of no other relation to the family. Kate was the most well-known of the Benders for many reasons but primarily because she was very outspoken and considered a medium during the birth of the Spiritualist movement. It was not uncommon for people to visit the 160-acre farm to participate in séances hosted by Kate or to participate in her free-love practices. The numerous interactions that various people had with the family had everybody thinking that there was something off about John Jr and that he wasn’t all there. The opinions of the mother and father seemed to be centralized around them being rude and not understanding much English. With the frequent coming and going of random people through the small house led to the family setting up an official wait station for the area. This is where things get dark.

The one room house was divided in half with a simple sheet hung to separate the family’s private space from that which was open to anybody passing by. In addition to Kate’s seances, the common area was turned into a general store and dining area for passing travelers. It’s uncertain whether the wealth or the small size of a passing party played a bigger role in who the Benders selected as victims, but both were most certainly a factor. Travelers would stop by and if they appealed to the Benders as a potential victim the family would convince the strangers to stay for dinner. The guest would be situated at the head of the table which was oriented so their backs would be against the fabric dividing the room. In some retellings of the Benders’ story Kate was the point of distraction while in others Junior was just quiet and snuck up behind them. He would take a sledgehammer and smash the skulls of the guest of honor. This is where some people start to make the historical story sound a little Sweeney Todd like because they say there was a hatch in the floor that the family would then drop the body through. Others say they simply dragged the body away, which lines up with how the first few bodies were discovered. By May of 1871 bodies would start to be found in a near by creek with heads bashed in and throats slit. Considering that the whole of the family didn’t arrive until earlier that same year, its hard to believe this was the first time that the so-called Benders worked their angle. It took a little more than year for word to spread around about the dangers of the Osage Trail for travelers.

Despite the general wariness for traveling this area, avoiding it completely wasn’t an option for some people depending on where they were traveling from. One unfortunate soul who found himself having to travel by the Bender farm was George Newton, and his only companion was his 18-month-old daughter. While Newton was not well renown in his own right his neighbor was. That neighbor had sold Newton a wagon and horse team for his travels and recognized the team when they were found wandering near the creek where the bodies had been found the previous years. The former owner of the team was Dr. York and he traveled to the area to investigate his former neighbor’s disappearance. It would prove to be fatal for the doctor but also set the downfall of the Benders in motion. Dr. York had a brother who was a high-ranking Colonel and another who was a Senator. These brothers turned the area upside down looking for their brother.

Colonel York lead the investigation and tried questioning the Benders but without evidence had to leave. A woman who escaped from the Benders gave the group reason to return saying Ma Bender was a point of contention. The Colonel had several men with him the second time and Kate tried to use her charm to smooth over the situation by offering to use her psychic gifts to help the Colonel find his brother’s grave if he would only come back a few days later with much fewer numbers. It was about the same time that there was a public forum for all the area men to attend. Both John Benders were in attendance which ended up being a crucial flaw in planning on the Colonel’s part. At this gathering it was decided that all properties would be searched for any evidence because by this point vigilantism and a drop in tourism had created an extreme problem for the locals.

A couple days after the town meeting, neighbors to the Bender Farm noticed animals on the property were dead or dying to neglect. This spurred what served as law enforcement at the time to move up the Benders property on the search itinerary. What they found on the Bender property was enough to make people sick. In addition to the recently dead animals that had caught neighbors’ attention, there were bodies found in the garden and orchard. It wasn’t just Dr. York and his former neighbor but enough bodies to put the count in the double digits. One of the most horrifying facts that the people learned that day was that the 18-month-old baby had been buried alive. Keep in mind there were other bodies before the property search that had been thrown into a creek, so the body count for this location was in the high teens in less than 6 months. The dirt cellar under the house was surprisingly barren of any bodies but had a strong stench from excessive amounts of blood that had clotted and stained the dirt under the house.

After dismantling the buildings of the property and finding everything that was there, the would-be vigilantes and the York brothers were not satisfied. This led to one of the largest manhunts in the history of the country. Keep in mind most people interacted with Kate, who had a tendency of dressing in male clothing and practicing roles that were not traditionally feminine. The York brothers added to the general determination to find the Benders by putting a large bounty on their heads. It didn’t take long for word of the atrocities committed to spread around the country, and whether motivated by a sense of justice or greed, people throughout the nation made claims of seeing women who fit the general description of Kate. Sometimes it was simply that young unattached women were walking around wearing pants, so people of more traditional practices called them in. At one point there was a pair of women arrested under suspicion of being Ma and Kate Bender but they escaped or were released before extradition could happen to confirm the identities. For most retellings of the story the escape and unknown ending is where it is done, but there is more to it.

The tour guide told us some of the additional information that was acquired by descendants of Kate ‘Bender’ coming forward in recent years with added information. They moved out west like most people during the time and kept a low profile. Kate and maybe John Jr had kids before the entire family moved back to Kansas and continued their nefarious ways. This time they were setup about 20 miles due south of Topeka. In getting caught this time we come across another name that may be well known to some, Charles Ingalls. For those wondering why you might know this name, he is the father of renown author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and was a well-respected man of the area at the time. He made the mistake of stopping in at their newly established general store but left quickly when he caught sight of one of the John’s shadow with a sledgehammer. Its unclear how many bodies were attributed to this second location but the tour guide for Ravenwynd Tours in Topeka was part of the crew who excavated the site in the last 10 years or so.

As with many sites of true crime people demolished the sites, particularly the original, and kept souvenirs. I have heard a couple different results of such collections where the Bender family is concerned, and both are centered around some central artifacts. The aforementioned tour guide said that the sledgehammer is in the Kansas Historical Museum located in Topeka. When I looked at the museum’s site however, the closest information is about the knife that Kate or Ma used to guarantee death after bludgeoning. One or both are currently at the museum though somebody’s private collection coming to light and have been DNA tested and dated to confirm authenticity. As of March, 18 2021 the knife is the only listed artifact in relation to the Bloody Benders, but it is completely possible that the sledgehammer was also present when we were told on the tour a couple years ago. Hopefully this satisfied a bit of your morbid curiosity.